Even two hours won’t be enough for “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation'” to be able to unravel all its exhiliratingly high-octane action and drama.
This fifth installment in the franchise surges with death-defying action proceedings, riveting and pulsing with the relentlessness and explosiveness of its spiking adrenaline, to deliver the franchise’s most thrilling outing, yet.
That relentlessness is true and screaming right at the opening sequence of the film, where IMF agent, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), is seen dangling from the door of an airbus, already adrift in the air as it ascends even further to the skies. That’s the first of too many, and you wouldn’t care less of the logic behind such impossible knockout stunt demonstrations, because once the momentum crashes past the speedometer’s limit, there’s no other choice left but to get consumed by the electrifying influx of near-impossible action setpieces.
This doesn’t mean there’s barely any sense to take in, in fact you would be awed to realize that in spite of its speed and strength-defying physicalities, characterizations are still working along the explosive chaos, and the behavior of the characters, and the emotional aspect of the narrative, still follows acceptable reasoning.
The whole of ‘Rogue Nation’ can be seen as Hunt’s team’s desperate attempt to keep IMF running, and save it, and the world it intends to protect, from extinction. This time, the major figure of terror, is the myterious organization, ‘The Syndicate’, headed by the despicably steel-fisted Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) . Ethan is joined by co-IMF agent, William Brandt (Jeremmy Renner), and suspicious British agent, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson).
The comic effort comes mostly from Hunt’s sidekick, Benji (Simon Pegg), and Brandt, who spends most of the time running and chasing after the shadow-terrorist group, The Syndicate.
Much of the movie’s strength emanates from its seemingly unstoppable delivery of edge-of-your-seat action, but you can’t ignore the grandeur of its camera shots and the palatable efforts of its lead characters and supports. There’s much to say about how inconsistent and illogical some of the narrative choices that the screenwritersn took are, but they get overshadowed by the more relevant, and on this case, more effectively utilized, high-tension action extravaganza.
One can inevitably notice how Cruise has aged through the franchise’s almost two-decade history. He’s more tired-looking here, but you can’t question his commitment to the franchise.
In ‘Rogue Nation’, he’s definitely back, running after, and wrestling against, the equally desperate claws of ‘The Syndicate’. He hops across the world to trump the enemy, and in every city, he inevitably gets himself involved in deadly strangulations. At such moments, cinematography is top notch, and the breathtaking panorama becomes an exquisite backdrop for the ever-imminent rumbles.
This is where this installment is strongest and most engaging, a strength that should warrant a sixth outing.
RATING: 8/10 (JE)
